INTERNATIONAL ROWING TURNS PROFESSIONAL The final was at 5:06PM in the gathering evening, seventeen minutes after the coxless-fours race.3862 The doubles faced a diminishing but still strong 3.4 mps3863 nearly-direct headwind from the east southeast, the side of the course toward Lane 1. The Soviets had drawn Lane 6, which had perhaps a very slight advantage against the far wall, while Cromwell and Storm lined up in Lane 4, the middle of the course. Storm: “There were seven finals that day. Four of them were won by Lane 6. One of them was won from Lane 5, but that was Ivanov,3864 and then there were Findlay and Ferry3865 and the Danish Four,3866 who won out in the middle while the wind temporarily came straight down the course.”3867 Oleg Tyurin and Boris Dubrovsky took the lead immediately. They crossed the 500 meter mark 1.17 seconds ahead of the U.S. boat, which had already separated itself from the rest of the field by nearly two lengths. The second 500 was all American. Sy and Jim crossed the 1,000 .31 seconds into the lead. Both crews were stroking at 32, and in the third 500 the Soviets responded. They crossed the 1,500 back in the lead by .76 seconds and slowly ground away in the last 500 to finish 2.5 seconds ahead. Amlong: “There is the possibility that [Cromwell and Storm] were in rougher water in their lane than the Russians were in Lane 6.”3868 Czechoslovakia in Lane 5, which had been reeling in the leaders since the 1,000 3862 See Chapter 85. 3863 7.6 mph 3864 See Chapter 86. 3865 See Chapter 82. 3866 See Chapter 85. 3867 Storm, personal conversation, 2010 3868 Amlong, op. cit. meter mark, rowed its last 500 a length faster than the Soviets and crossed the line in Bronze Medal position, less than half a length behind the Americans. Storm: “That was a horrible race. I’ve never been so tired in my life. When we finished, I couldn’t move my legs to row over to get our medals. I had to row over with my arms alone. The legs came back in a little while, but I was just utterly drained. We tried so hard, and it was so frustrating. “The day after the regatta we went out to pack up the boats, and it was perfectly calm and sunny. If they had waited a day, it would have been a great regatta. “But that’s sport.”3869 Georg N. Meyers, The Seattle Times: “The Yanks’ Silver Medal went to the double scullers – Seymour Gromour Cromwell from New Rochelle, NY and Jim Storm, a Pomona College graduate student from San Diego. They led the Russians for half the race, but the red-shirted veterans, Oleg Tyurin and Boris Dubrovsky, swung past them in the final 400 meters and won by a length and a half.”3870 Amlong: “The Russian Double was the most technically perfect crew I have ever seen. This was the same double that had won [the 1964 European Championships] in Amsterdam. They were two boys about six feet tall, one weighing around 185 and the other 175.3871 They won in a headwind, whereas in Amsterdam they won in a tailwind.”3872 Theo Mittet, 1964 Olympic teammate: “Cromwell was fast thinking and fast talking, always intelligent with strong but reasoned opinions. He usually wore jeans with a thick paperback bulging from the rear 3869 Storm, personal conversation, 2010 3870 Georg N. Meyers, Vesper, Seattle Oarsmen Win, The Seattle Times, October 16, 1964 3871 They were actually even smaller. See the official weights in the photo caption. 3872 Amlong, op. cit. 1065
